rojected from the shore, and behind it the deep water was slowly
eddying round and round. The temptation was irresistible. I threw off
my clothes, leaped in, suffered myself to be borne once round with the
current, and then, seizing the strong root of a water plant, drew myself
to the shore. The effect was so invigorating and refreshing that I
mistook it for returning health. "Pauline," thought I, as I led the
little mare up to be saddled, "only thrive as I do, and you and I will
have sport yet among the buffalo beyond these mountains." But scarcely
were we mounted and on our way before the momentary glow passed. Again I
hung as usual in my seat, scarcely able to hold myself erect.

"Look yonder," said Raymond; "you see that big hollow there; the Indians
must have gone that way, if they went anywhere about here."

We reached the gap, which was like a deep notch cut into the mountain
ridge, and here we soon discerned an ant-hill furrowed with the mark of
a lodge-pole. This was quite enough; there could be no doubt now. As we
rode on, the opening growing narrower, the Indians had been compelled to
march in closer order, and the traces became numerous and distinct. The
gap terminated in a rocky gateway, leading into a rough passage upward,
between two precipitous mountains. Here grass and weeds were bruised to
fragments by the throng that had passed through. We moved slowly over
the rocks, up the passage; and in this toilsome manner we advanced for
an hour or two, bare precipices, hundreds of feet high, shooting up on
either hand. Raymond, with his hardy mule, was a few rods before me,
when we came to the foot of an ascent steeper than the rest, and which
I trusted might prove the highest point of the defile. Pauline strained
upward for a few yards, moaning and stumbling, and then came to a dead
stop, unable to proceed further. I dismounted, and attempted to lead
her; but my own exhausted strength soon gave out; so I loosened the
trail-rope from her neck, and tying it round my arm, crawled up on my
hands and knees. I gained the top, totally exhausted, the sweat drops
trickling from my forehead. Pauline stood like a statue by my side, her
shadow falling upon the scorching rock; and in this shade, for there was
no other, I lay for some time, scarcely able to move a limb. All around
the black crags, sharp as needles at the top, stood glowing in the
sun, without a tree, or a bush, or a blade of grass, to cover their
precipitou